


Once more into Darkness

by DisguisedasInnocent



Category: Pretty Little Liars
Genre: One Shot, Self-Harm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-19
Updated: 2013-09-19
Packaged: 2017-12-27 02:06:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/973021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DisguisedasInnocent/pseuds/DisguisedasInnocent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is a relief in pain. A darkness in the light. A beginning in the end. Paige has yet to find her light, her beginning, but she knows how to find relief. Warning for graphic description of self harm.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Once more into Darkness

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings for self harm. This is another exploration of Paige's backstory and her history with self harm.

Paige stared sightlessly at the gashes on her thighs, blood trickling down the length of her upper legs to dribble down onto her shins, running down the contours of the bone and muscle to splatter against the white tile of the bathroom floor. A small smirk appeared on Paige's lips at the sight of the blood pooling at the back of her heels, the crimson red bright against the white of the floor. The blade of the knife glistened wet in the artificial light, the edge tempting and sharp, teasingly close to cutting through another layer of Paige's flesh as she held it against her thigh. 

"Emily," Paige murmured softly, tasting the syllables on the tip of her tongue, sweet and sharp at the same time. The girl lifted the blade to her lips, kissed the sharpness of the knife's edge before running her tongue quickly over the length of the blade, taking the blood into her mouth, rolling it over her tongue, a moan bubbling up the length of her throat. "Alison." The name didn't taste sweet; the name was sharp and bitter with a tang that burned through the back of the girl's throat as she licked the blade. 

The dark haired girl pressed the knife against her thigh once more, pressing the blade into the softness of her inner thighs, brushing it tenderly over the length of one of the bands of muscle that lay underneath her flesh. There was a moment of consideration, a moment of reprise and then downward pressure. Blood welled from the wound, bubbling and burning as the knife tore through the layers of skin. Paige's lips curled upwards as the pain blazed through her system and for a moment, for a second, there was relief. 

Emily and Alison disappeared. 

Her father disappeared.

Her mother disappeared.

There was nothing but the calmness of the pain bloating out everything else. The pain became a fire that spread through Paige’s veins and engulfed her entire being. It filled her soul with lightness, strength and a gentleness that belied the pain. She smiled. She breathed and for a second it didn't hurt. It didn't hurt. 

The wounds wept the tears that Paige's eyes could not cry with blood in the place of water. They wept and screamed for the soul of a girl that could not see a way past the breaking of her heart. The wounds gave a release and a relief that did not come from anything else. 

However, after a minute basking in the relief of the pain, it faded from Paige's eyes leaving her in the darkness without a layer of protection. Her thighs bled and trembled as she leaned back against the cool white tile of the bathroom wall. The girl's lungs ached, the tears clawed at the back of her eyes but she refused to allow them to fall down her cheeks, preferring the sensation of the blood crying from her legs. 

The muscles trembled. The knife clattered to the floor. Paige took a breath and the blood washed away under the pouring steam of water from the showerhead.

Once more into darkness. Once more into hiding. Once more into nothingness.


End file.
